Eighteen years after a Freedom of Information Request was filed by the author William Doyle, a recording has been released of former President Ronald Reagan apologizing to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1983, the United States invaded Grenada, a Commonwealth country, without asking Britain's permission. Although Operation Urgent Fury was a popular decision among Americans, the United Nations deeply deplored the armed intervention.

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Grenada gained independence from the UK in 1974, and pro-Marxist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop took over the country in a bloodless coup five years later, when the Cold War was still kicking. The U.S. had been keeping an eye on Grenada's Soviet-friendly administration for years when Bishop was assassinated after a power struggle within his own party in October of 1983.

The assassination not only caused a breakdown of Grenadian civil order that endangered American medical students living on the island; it presented an opportunity to rid communist influence and introduce democracy. When the Organization of East Caribbean States sent a cry for help to the United States, Reagan pounced at the opportunity to save American lives, help those in need, and bring democracy to the Cuban-backed Grenada.